The 5 Best Thai Restaurants in NYC

The Thai food scene in NYC really started getting interesting about 20 years back, when Sripraphai Tipmanee opened a restaurant in Woodside, Queens where she served properly funky, spicy northern Thai fare. In the last few years, a bunch of excellent Thai spots popped up in Manhattan, including Zaab Elle in the East Village and the recently opened Somtum Der in Alphabet City. And we must not forget Uncle Boons with its Singha beer slushies, nor Portland import Pok Pok in Red Hook, where chef Andy Ricker is serving the best Vietnamese-style chicken wings and khao soi noodle soup in town. If you’re craving Thai food, you’re sure to find a spot within this list that you will love.

Here are our picks for the best places to eat Thai in NYC.

Zaab Elee

Address and phone: 75 2nd Ave (212-505-9533)
Website:zabbelee.comGood for: Crying tears of joy with your fellow spicy-food lovers
Zabb Elee was a game-changer when it opened in the East Village back in 2011—no longer did fans of properly funky, spicy northern Thai fare have to trek out to Queens for their fix. Don't go here looking for pad thai and other Americanized takeout staples. Instead, dig into reasonably priced specialties like moo korb (crispy fried pork belly), excellent duck larb, and steamed chicken (kao mun kai) with ginger rice. Spice-fiends should go for the som tum (green papaya salad), using the code word "Level 5" to ensure a palate-obliterating assault of fresh bird's-eye chilies. Even with the heat, the dish is bright and citrusy, balanced by pungent fish sauce and briny little tiny dried shrimp.
Order this: Duck larb, fried chicken (kai tod), steamed chicken with ginger rice, green papaya salad

SriPraPhai

Address and phone: 64-13 39th Ave, Woodside, Queens (718-899-9599)
Website:sripraphairestaurant.comGood for: Refreshing salads and spicy Isaan fare from NYC's first great Thai restaurant
Sripraphai Tipmanee opened her Thai food mecca in Woodside 20 years ago, forever changing New Yorker's relationship to the cuisine. At SriPraPhai, you'll find peasant fare from the Isaan province in Northeast Thailand. The restaurant got a face lift a few years back, but the food tastes exactly the same. E-sarn sausage is garlicky and delicious (the perfect snack food to go with your Chang beer), and the whole fried fish dressed with loads of shredded green mango and red onion is a must-order.
Order this: E-sarn sausage, crispy Thai catfish salad, whole fried fish, sauteed pork with chili and basil

Somtum Der

Address and phone: 85 Ave A (212-260-8570)
Website:somtumder.comGood for: Fiery Isaan salads, sticky rice, and fried chicken in the East Village
Somtum Der, Bangkok's celebrated Isaan restaurant, recently opened an outpost in the East Village. Kin Shop chef Harold Dieterle calls Somtum Der's papaya salad "the best version in the U.S." And it is pretty damn great—perfectly balanced, seriously spicy (try ordering it extra-hot), and adorned with slivers of salted egg. Other menu highlights include fried chicken thighs served with chili sauce (sa poak kai tod der), which is undoubtedly one of the best fried-chicken dishes in town.
Order this: Fried chicken, papaya salad with salted egg, Isaan-style chicken soup with local herbs (gaeng om kai)

Uncle Boons

Address and phone: 7 Spring St (646-370-6650)
Website:uncleboons.comGood for: Date night
When it opened, Mission Chinese chef Danny Bowien tweeted that the Thai food at Uncle Boons was so good, he ate their twice in a row. Now, of course, reservations are hard to come by, but it’s well worth it. The place is run by two Per Se veterans, Matt Danzer and Ann Redding, and features a bunch of dishes that Redding grew up with in the Ubon province of Thailand. This is no hole-in-the-wall joint—go here for a rare mix of downtown cool and credible, funky Thai cooking, featuring offcuts like beef cheeks with massaman curry, and a wonderful appetizer of toasted coconut, dried shrimp, peanuts, and fiery chiles that you wrap in a betel leaf. Did we mention there’s Singha beer slushies on the menu?
Order this: Khao soi kaa kai, grilled Issan pork and rice sour sausage, grilled baby octopus, muu tod

Pok Pok

Address and phone: 117 Columbia St, Columbia Street Waterfront District, Brooklyn (718-923-9322)
Website:pokpokny.comGood for: Incredible Vietnamese-style chicken wings and superb cocktails on the Red Hook Waterfront.
Chef Andy Ricker serves faithful renditions of dishes he encountered in Thailand at his Red Hook outpost of Pok Pok (the original is in Portland). Papaya salads are pleasantly funky with fish sauce, and the now-famous chicken wings—a Vietnamese-style preparation—are as addictive as anything the Colonel ever created. But the menu, equipped with encyclopedic entries on each dish, will also introduce you to less familiar items, like coriander-rubbed pork neck served with a side of bitter mustard greens on ice—use them to wrap up the warm slabs of meat, then dunk each handful into spicy garlic sauce.
Order this: Mangalitsa pork neck; khao soi noodle soup; papaya salad, Vietnamese fish-sauce wings

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